Final Contract Proposal From ARH Rejected, Union Nurses Closer To Strike
Final Contract Proposal From ARH Rejected, Union Nurses Closer To Strike Save Email Print
Posted: 6:07 PM Sep 26, 2007
 Last Updated: 11:10 AM Sep 28, 2007
 Reporter: Marie Luby
Email Address: marie.luby@wymtnews.com
26 comments
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The Kentucky and West Virginia Nurses Associations reject a final contract proposal from Appalachian Regional Healthcare and now they're one step closer to going on strike.

ARH officials offered nurses a $500 dollar bonus if they voted for the new contract, but the final numbers are in and union members voted 408 to 228 against the proposal.

ARH officials are preparing to staff extra nurses in case more than 700 nurses do walk off the job. Union nurses say they want a contract that does not mandate overtime and that gives them better pension retirements and medical benefits.

ARH officials say their offer already included free health care and a competitive retirement plan, plus yearly raises.

Union and ARH officials say if federal mediators contact them to re-negotiate before Sunday at midnight, Union officials say they may delay the strike. If not, union nurses say they won't be showing up for work next week.

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Posted by: Sarah Location: kentucky on Oct 31, 2007 at 07:10 PM
I have worked in hospitals where the nurses conversations are about trying to create a "healing" enviroment for their patients and what is " best practice". Places where Nurses, Doctors, and administration talk together and make changes for the betterment of the patient. I would bet none of you reading this have ever heard of this or even know what it means. And to you all- the patients of the kentuckey health care system. You all need to demand more of your nurses. The "scabs" are far better!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous on Oct 31, 2007 at 07:06 PM
You all should be ashamed of yourselves! I have never seen such an unprofessional group in my life!!! And for the Kenucky nurses association to condone such acitivity makes me want to vomit. You should all have you liscences taken away and you should all find another job in another profesion. I bet not one of you can say that you have ever served on a committee to improve patient care because you are all to worried about whether or not it is in your jobe description. You are all a bunch of lazy misfits!!!
Posted by: Sarah Location: Kentucky on Oct 31, 2007 at 07:00 PM
You are all the most sorry example of a profession I have ever Seen in my life!!! Wake up and smell the roses people!!! Do you even know the definition of a professional? You are nurses with your own body of knowledge. Have you ever stood up to a physician to do what is right for your patient. NO BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW!!!! I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE PATIENTS IN THE HOSPITALS NOW ARE RECIEVING FAR BETTER CARE THAN WHEN WHEN YOU WORKING!!!
Posted by: patti Location: hazard on Oct 5, 2007 at 03:20 AM
RN's at ARH have every reason to strike. Have you or your loved ones been an ARH patient lately? Mine have. I can't believe how short-staffed they are working, and such crazy hours!!It is unsafe to have them being mandated constantly while increasing their patient loads, to boot. The community needs to wise-up and realize that when hundreds of employees are constantly disgruntled, there must be some validity to their complaints. I have received compassionate care from these same RNs and believe they are just as concerned with patient safety as they are with their finances. I also understand why some have not gone out on strike with the others. We need to step back and try to see their side as well. It must be hard to walk across the lot while your friends and co-workers picket. We all work "because" we have a family; not "instead" of having a family. Until you walk a mile in their shoes...... Bottom line: stand up for what you believe RNs. I stand behind you!!
Posted by: anonymous Location: Kentucky on Sep 29, 2007 at 01:01 PM
I am sorry for the lady whose mother died during the last strike. It should have never happened. But I think you should consider the fact that ARH told everyone that the patients were receiving the same quality care as before the strike? Did they Lie? If so, what else did they lie about???I know for a fact that the RN's were taking care of the patients during the last strke,it was in their contract to do so. They would not, however, cook or take out the garbage, etc., as ARH wanted them to, so ARH hires in "scabs"...unqualified people to fill these and other positions and paid them triple. So maybe the blame should be on ARH, not the RN's working to take care of the patients or the LPN's and others on the picket lines trying to keep their benefits for their families and maybe even their own dying mothers.
Posted by: kimmy Location: Martin, Kentucky on Sep 29, 2007 at 07:51 AM
I have been a nurse over 25 years, and worked in places good bad with respect to the treatment of its nurses. One thing I have learned is that if a hospital had a union, it deserved it. It deserved it because it did not see, hear or understand the issues brought to it by nurses regarding safe practice.Period. The role of the "scab", as I see it, is to allow the folks with the issues to safely leave the patient's side, meet up with the hospital with union representation, solve the issues, and return to the patient. There can then be no accusation of abandonment, and the focus is placed on solving the issues.
Posted by: anothersteelworker Location: Hazard, KY on Sep 28, 2007 at 04:26 PM
If you don't stand up for what you believe in, working conditions will not get any better. I agree the strike is all about money, but not on the nurse's behalf, on ARH's behalf. If ARH didn't have the money to build all these new centers and projects, they never should have started. And they shouldn't be trying to take it out of the employee's pockets because then they are working for virtually nothing. The RNs, nor the steelworkers wanted more money, we just wanted to keep what we had! Part of the contract was that if we used any ARH facility, our insurance paid 100%. So why are people still getting bills from the past few months? What they failed to tell us was that it increased our health insurance sky high! Since the strike I make $100 less on a paycheck than I did before. It's not worth it, for the nurses who cross, they're destroying it for everyone else, and ARH will have you right where they want you. OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID SLAVES!!
Posted by: Anonymous on Sep 28, 2007 at 02:30 PM
Speaking from an agency nurse point of view. We will be there to take care of your loved ones once the nurses strike. I really feel bad for the Hazard nurses. The are taking 7-8 patients each with NO NURSE AIDE and NO MONITOR TECH!!! These nurses have been doing mandatory overtime, that means that they go in at 7 pm and expect their shift to end at 7 am only to find that they are MADE to stay until 11 AM!!! What kind of care can you deliver to 7-8 patients a night?? Would the hospital administrator want his mother to be one of those 7 patients?? Even ICU nurses take 3 PATIENTS each!! I strongly agree that these nurses need to strike. ARH is working their nurses to death, and they are not payed enough to put up with it!! Families should not bring their loved ones to ARH as patients, I know I wouldn't - not because the nurses are striking...no this problem has been going on for months. Their has not been enough staff at the hospital to take care of livestock, much less human beings
Posted by: Lisa Location: somerset on Sep 28, 2007 at 02:15 PM
I feel for you ARH nurses. I work at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset and we have the same problems- They are taking money away from us, no respect, benifits that cost more and pay less, administration that is so out of touch with reality that its a joke, understaffed, I could go on and on. I wish we had a union. You Go Nurses! I stand behind you. One of these days these hospitals in Kentucky will realize that there IS a nursing shortage in KY and that 1 experienced nurse is more valuable then 2 new nurses. They should be trying to retain their nurses so the patients get knowledgeable care.
Posted by: RAJ Location: Hazard on Sep 28, 2007 at 12:06 PM
This is for all of you that do not think the nurses should go on strike. If any of you work and have a decent job and make a decent wage with a decent benefit package, and then your employer tells you that they will be reducing your wage by X amount of dollars on the hour, and you will have to pay your own hospitalization insurance, and then after all other concessions are made, you then try and go back to work only to finding your self over worked, under staffed and realizing that all of the years of hard work you have put forth with your employer has no meaning at all to them. Then you begin to wake up! and think enough is enough and fight back for what is yours. I am for the KNA all the WAY!!! and all of us as a community should be also. So if the nurses decide to walk, walk with them, and not talk about them.
Posted by: Anonymous Location: Whitesburg, KY on Sep 28, 2007 at 10:20 AM
The strike is not just about money. It is about alot of other things. The patients are not getting the care that they deserve because working for ARH is so bad that so many employees have quit not just nurses and ARH does not care. All ARH cares about is money. They have already hired about 30 agency nurses to work because they have lost so many employees but there is just about 7 of them left and they were getting paid about 50 dollars an hour and they would not even stay there. So it seems something is not right at that hospital and the communities deserve to now.
Posted by: L. Location: KY on Sep 28, 2007 at 04:35 AM
We need stand up for our rights. We have been treated so bad for so long and I, along with many others, have just had all we can take. What you hear on the radio and read in the papers from ARH, are just a bunch of LIES!!! They are TAKING from us,and we are not being given anything back. We would be going in the hole by accepting this contract. And if you have read the contract, it DOES NOT list what they are taking from us. So before you run off at the mouth, get your facts straight!!! Another fed up nurse.
Posted by: JL Location: Hazard on Sep 27, 2007 at 11:26 PM
I agree with ANOTHER FED UP NURSE It's not about the money.. it's about providing good pt. care,less mandation, adequate staffing, a little respect, and some appreciation. Are you a nurse FED UP? Walk in a nurses shoes for a while for ARH and then judge. People still get sick and need care in a "depressed" area. Where do you go for health care?
Posted by: A SUPPORTER Location: LETCHER COUNTY on Sep 27, 2007 at 11:14 PM
I SUPPORT THOSE UNION NURSES ALL THE WAY. ITS A SHAME THOSE ARH DUMMIES WANT TO TAKE AWAY SICK DAYS(ACCORDING TO WHAT I HEARD). LADYS WHO ARE IN THE UNION I SAY IF THEY WONT GIVE U WHAT U WANT GIVE EM HECK AND WALK OUT PROUD... I SUPPORT THE UNION ALL THE WAY!!!GOOD LUCK!
Posted by: steelworker Location: hazard,ky on Sep 27, 2007 at 10:01 PM
First, I would have to disagree with Marie in that ARH nurses have the best pay and such in Ky. There are plenty of medical facilities who pay their RN's and others better than ARH with much better benefits. Second, there are 2 unions at ARH. Steelworkers went on strike in May and now the RN's are pending a strike now. ARH only tells the community what they want you to know. Gee oh people....Is it really possible that so many employees for ARH all feel the same that all of them would walk out for no reason at all? If you haven't worked for the company...don't run your mouths about something you know nothing about. I went on strike in May so I've been there and done that. Its about more than wages and benefits. Its also about respect and treating employees like human beings. Although ARH is supposed to be "not for profit", wake up folks. All they care about is money! If you think they care about your families, think again. You are sadly mistaken.
Posted by: kevin on Sep 27, 2007 at 09:48 PM
Vote is in, nurses vote contract down, and decide to strike at midnight sunday night.
Posted by: Lisa Location: Kentucky on Sep 27, 2007 at 09:12 PM
My only point was that the last time the hospital and nurses went on strike there was no one to care for my mother because they were all outside holding little signs and she DIED!! HELLO SHE'S DEAD! So while we struggle to pay funeral bills the nurses are once again going to be outside holding their little signs and someone else's mother is going to pay the price. Yes, I work at a hospital. Yes, I had to move to feed my children. Yes, I do deal with ill mannered patients and their families as well as doctors that are so full of themselves they don't see anything else but their Mercedes in the parking lot. But I have yet to walk out of a room with a dying patient because I wasn't getting the respect I deserve. My job is to save lives. As should be yours!!!
Posted by: only me Location: ky on Sep 27, 2007 at 06:32 PM
another thing is if they are going to pay scabs 30-50 dollars a hour to work then they should pay our nurses what they need to be paid!
Posted by: only jme Location: ky on Sep 27, 2007 at 06:26 PM
I think the nurses should strike if they dont get anything good offered to them. They got enough worthless scabs to work it. When you read in the paper what they offer it sounds better then what is really being offered. some people dont even understand what striking is talking about they just walk away its nothing like that you gotta do what you gotta do! I support KNA!!!!
Posted by: Marie Location: Somerset on Sep 27, 2007 at 03:46 PM
First off- it doesnt matter what job you have you have the right to strike, to say that nurses cant makes you small minded. We nurses work for a living just like everyone else. We put up with rotten families, grouchy patients and pompous doctors and thats not including the gross things we have to do everyday so dont think we dont work hard for our money. On the other hand, the workers at Hazard are some of the best paid nurses in Kentucky and have the best benefits so I am not feeling sorry for them.
Posted by: Ann Location: Harlan on Sep 27, 2007 at 03:17 PM
first of all I am moving and will be making more than where I am. I will not be a slave to ARH. as far as the yessin group they are not educators in the sense that arh lets on they are educators in the art of union busting read their website www.betteremployeerelations.com. does that soud educational to you? also this "crap" of a raise doesn't even cover the rise in our healthcare premiums and disability they are charging us with. If we had more agressive doctors to treat us instead of letting people lie in bed until medicare says let them go home I might would consider seeing and arh doc, but I don't and never will. I like being healthy too much. If it wasn't for nurses there would be alot less people living in this region. You need to thank the nurses for being your advocat and not patronize them for wanting better working conditions. would you have scolded the miners in the 70s?
Posted by: ANOTHER FED UP NURSE Location: KY on Sep 27, 2007 at 01:39 PM
It is obvious that the FED UP person from Hazard who wrote that peice,does not work for ARH, because if they did, they would know it is not about money. It is the total lack of respect that Arh has for their nurses. I think the person who wrote that is not from Eastern, Ky, or they would know that we do not want to go to a big city to work, and why is that we should be paid less because we work in a rural area. I believe this person probably works for Yessin, the union busting company ARH hired to help fight the nurses, because ARH knew they would need all the help they could get to fight the nurses. And, why did ARH have to hire someone from another area of the country, who knows nothing of our way of life here in the mountains.How much money is ARH paying these people to fight the nurses, when that money could have been spent on their raises and benefits.
Posted by: J Location: Kentucky on Sep 27, 2007 at 12:15 PM
What do you think you are talking about "FED UP"? Have you ever had to walk off the job during a strike? I bet not, I bet you are one of the people that would take a scab job from one of the nurses on a picket line. You don't know what you are talking about. You are on the outside looking in with only the information ARH wants to let you know. You have no idea!! How can these nurses be walking away from their patients when ARH promises they will receive the same care as before? These nurses are fighting for their futures and their families. Of course they want their pay to rise with the economy, who doesn't. It isn't all about pay increases. Many can't move from here, they have roots and families here and don't want to move. And NO we didn't just see this last year. In April of this year, it was the LPN's (and other hospital workers) striking, not the RN's. You are obviously ill-informed or just want to hear yourself speak. Get the facts straight before you shoot off your mouth.
Posted by: lindsey Location: ky on Sep 27, 2007 at 10:25 AM
First off, I think that the person above is having some problems with not seeing the whole story, possibly having tunnel vision. How easy is it for someone to pack up and MOVE, if they do not like their job? Also, it does not mean you are a bad nurse, if you stand up for your rights. Many people as well as yourself, are being quick to judge, without hearing the whole story. THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!
Posted by: Casey Location: Lexington on Sep 27, 2007 at 10:09 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong but from what I understand nurses make really good money. Better than most people in that area so why all the complaining?
Posted by: FED UP Location: Hazard on Sep 27, 2007 at 08:46 AM
A possible nurses strike, didn’t we just see this last year? You know I say we let these nurses go on strike, fill their jobs with nurses willing to work, and simply use another facility for a time. If a nurse will threaten to strike, then do so and simply walk away from a needy patient you really can’t be sure they will be there when you need them anyway. It’s quite obvious these nurses don’t care about our family’s health or us; it’s all about them and how much they can get for as small amount of effort applied. When you work in a hospital listed at a not for profit, you knew full well when you started the job what you were going to get. Don’t come ten years later crying because it isn’t enough. If you don’t get paid enough do like others have had to do in Eastern Kentucky, MOVE. The fact of the matter is you are in a depressed area, you are only going to make so much, and guess what you will never be paid like a nurse in a large prosperous area.
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